(Adds Belgian, Dutch health ministers, European Commission)
By Michel Rose and Philip Blenkinsop
PARIS/BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - A deal between
AstraZeneca and four European countries for COVID-19
vaccines involves doses being shared by European Union members
on a pro rata basis based on population, a source at the French
President's office said on Monday.
The British drugmaker signed a contract with France,
Germany, Italy and the Netherlands at the weekend for up to 400
million doses of its potential vaccine.
Governments have been scrambling to secure advance purchases
of promising coronavirus immunisation treatments amid concerns
within the EU that the bloc has not moved as fast as other
regions or countries.
"The principle of the deal is that the vaccines will be
distributed pro rata, based on population," the French source
said. "What we've asked for and what has been agreed is for
production to take place in Europe."
The Netherlands also made clear on Monday that the vaccines
would be available to all EU countries that sign up to the
scheme after Belgium criticised the deal.
Belgian Health Minister Maggie De Block said the European
Commission should be coordinating vaccine purchases to show
solidarity and ensure no EU members were left behind.
Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said criticism of the
deal was very odd because other EU member states would have
access to the vaccines, which are still in clinical trials.
Diplomats said many smaller nations had called for a common
EU approach to procurement at a meeting of health ministers on
Friday, when the four countries discussed their plans.
Asked about how their deal would fit with an EU plan to
invest about 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in buying promising
vaccines, a Commission spokesman said the initiatives were
connected and complimentary.
France hopes to strike similar deals with other
pharmaceuticals companies soon, the French source said.
A call in May by French drugmaker Sanofi for a
more collaborative European effort in the hunt for a vaccine
sparked a backlash, especially after its CEO said doses produced
in the United States, which had rapidly rolled out funding for
research, would go to U.S. patients first.
Sanofi Chief Executive Paul Hudson later tempered his
comments, emphasising that any coronavirus vaccine would reach
all parts of the world.
Macron is due to visit a Sanofi Pasteur vaccine plant in
France on Tuesday and will announce commitments on treatments
and manufacturing capacities alongside the company, the source
at the President's office said.
($1 = 0.8886 euros)
(Reporting by Michel Rose and Matthias Blamont in Paris, Philip
Blenkinsop and Francesco Guarascio in Brussels and Anthony
Deutsch in Amsterdam; Writing by Sarah White; Editing by David
Goodman and David Clarke)
Astrazeneca (AZN)